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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28145907">my heart beets for you | 2jin</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/yves_iN_star/pseuds/oliviaHyesLips'>oliviaHyesLips (yves_iN_star)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>K-pop, LOONA (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>2jin is the ultimate, Complete, Dorks in Love, F/F, First Kiss, First Meetings, Gardens &amp; Gardening, Neighbors, One Shot, Rabbits</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:21:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,391</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28145907</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/yves_iN_star/pseuds/oliviaHyesLips</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes 11 days for Hyunjin to figure out who is taking a chomp out of her preciously grown garden beets and it takes 47 days for Heejin to figure out that her traitorous rabbit loves someone else more than her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jeon Heejin &amp; Kim Hyunjin, Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jiwoo | Chuu/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>125</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>my heart beets for you | 2jin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hyunjin was on all fours, crouched near her variegated wintercreeper bushes, interspersed with brilliant jewel-toned Camellia buds, investigating the assault on her beet plants when she met her.</p><p>"That's the fourth time this week Cho-hee," said Hyunjin. She dug her fingers into the soft mud, the grime definitely accumulating under her fingernails but it gave her peace of mind as she contemplated the possible reasons why seven of her precious beets had been pulled out prematurely and bitten from.</p><p>The Coffee grounds and sprinklings of Epsom salt, combined with the lovely weather of late summer and Hyunjin's tireless hardwork had paid off. She now had two rows of perfectly round, deliciously red beet plants, as large as good balls. As the days progressed, they promised to grow larger and redder. The young glossy tender tops made Hyunjin giddy with happiness.</p><p>Last summer she had planted the seeds a little too early, used too much of growth powder and planted too many seeds too close to each other. All her beets had turned out white and. The malnutritioned soil was partly to blame.</p><p>These beets were her heart and now someone was just picking them out and taking a bite out of them. Not even eating the whole damn thing like a respectable person would do.</p><p>"Excuse me? Are you searching for something?"</p><p>Societal politeness required Hyunjin to look up and atleast answer 'no' and 'can't you see I'm busy' and send off the annoying person who was disturbing her at such an untimely moment. That was exactly what she was about to do but <em>oh–</em></p><p>She was pretty. Spellbindingly beautiful (and almost as beautiful, thought Hyunjin, as her delicate ivory peonies). Years of gardening had given Hyunjin a keen knack of looking out for colours. And this woman was full of it. Her eyes were a deep brown, darker than the burgundy carnations Hyunjin was trying to cultivate in her backyard. Her hair was a smooth black, like the earth after much needed rain. Her lips were a delicious red and her cheeks were full, almost as healthy as the beets she held in her hand. When she smiled, Hyunjin realised two things: firstly, she had killer cheekbones and secondly, she had been staring.</p><p>Also, not to mention that she was in her mud-stained gardening outfit, her hair spilling out of the band and she had been talking to her cat for the past few minutes.</p><p>So instead off brutishly turning her away, Hyunjin awkwardly stood and waved. "Hi, are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before."</p><p>"Yeah, we just moved in next door, this is Jinsol," said the girl, pointing to the blonde beside her.</p><p>Hyunjin nodded, almost dumbly.</p><p>"Tell your own name Heejin, now that you've managed to introduce me," joked Jinsol.</p><p>"Oh, sorry, I'm Heejin." She held out her hand and then seemed to think better of it.</p><p>"I'm Hyunjin, and this is Cho-hee," said Hyunjin, introducing her ginger cat, probably the only creature she would trade her garden for. Cho-hee was on her stomach sleeping.</p><p>"Cool, so you like gardening?" asked Heejin, waving at the sprawling clump of roots and leaves which trumped Hyunjin's own house.</p><p>"Ah, yes, isn't it obvious though?" said Hyunjin nervously. "Do you like gardening too?" <em>Get a grip on yourself</em>, Hyunjin scolded herself. Maybe she should show the girl her new Calla lilies or the the figs adorning the bushes guarding her gate or–</p><p>"Not much really, but we do have a bonsai–"</p><p>"A <em>what</em>?"</p><p>Now that trigerred Hyunjin. She was of the firm opinion that if one was inexperienced at gardening then it would be meritorious to grow sunflowers (practically the easiest to grow) or mint or coriander but never, ever buy grown plants from the horticulture with special emphasis on bonsais. It was cruel to not let plants grow to their natural height by suppressing them with chemicals.</p><p>"It's like a dwarf plant, a short version of the actual tree," explained Heejin.</p><p>"I know what a bonsai is," snapped Hyunjin. All previous thoughts of strawberry lips and honey eyes had vanished, replaced with a sudden dislike. Also were they holding hands!</p><p>"I have stuff to do right now so if you will excuse me," said Hyunjin. There was no hope for Heejin's redemption anymore.</p><p> </p><p>"What happened to you? Cat got your tongue back there?" Jinsol teased, as they strolled back to their house. </p><p>Heejin kept craning her neck to catch a final glimpse of the girl but she had already reverted back to her original squatting position.</p><p>"I wonder what she was looking for," said Heejin. "She cut off so abruptly."</p><p>"She probably didn't like the idea of the bonsai," said Jinsol. "Think of it, she's growing plants there like Maleficent's lair."</p><p>Now that Jinsol says it, Heejin realises she probably shouldn't have mentioned her fake plant to the girl.</p><p>"Oof, I think I screwed it up."</p><p>"Seriously, why do you need another refrigerator unit?" Jinsol asked for the umpteenth time since Heejin had announced that she was going to buy another refrigerator. "The one you have is huge."</p><p>Heejin loves her job, even though it had changed a bit over the years. She used to work from home, in her little studio apartment, cramped and cold and great.</p><p>Now she worked in a huge space, wall to wall windows – great light at all times of the day, every possible need and whim catered to. Longer hours. Better pay. Much better pay.</p><p>Lots of things had changed, the only constants being her friend, Jinsol, and her family– her two dogs Tori and Nori and her rabbit. Despite her commonplace name, Cottontail was a beautiful creature, with soft pink pads and ridiculously soft white fur, she along with her hunky dogs made the place  warm and homey. Jinsol's fish added familiarity to the place as it (uselessly, thought Heejin but she would never say that aloud of course) flopped around in its bowl.</p><p>"The one I have is for people food, Jinsol," Heejin said for the fourth time that week. "I need another for CT and Tori and Nori."</p><p>Regardless of how much she explained it, Jinsol failed to catch the point of why Cottontail's fresh veggies and diet and Tori and Nori's required a separate space.</p><p>"Then I don't understand why they can't just eat kibbles," grumbled Jinsol.</p><p>"You're just being a grump because you keep stubbing your foot on the kitchen table," said Heejin. This was partly owing to the fact that neither of them had had a kitchen table in their four years of University and three years of work. Just hastily thrown together meals eaten on the couch.</p><p>CT, who had been a gift from Jinsol two years ago, had been a tiny, wriggly thing with an adorable little black spot over his eyes and Heejin had fallen instantly in love. (Jinsol took this to mean that she was the best at giving gifts, and Haseul now had a white bird, Hyejoo a husky and Yeojin a frog.) Cottontail was the sweetest, most adorable ball of fluff – unless you petted her wrong and then you may lose a limb to her tiny but sharp claws.</p><p>"Tori, Nori, come here," said Heejin, replacing the water in their bowl.</p><p>Eager to have her attention CT promptly jumped onto the kitchen counter and with a quickness which Heejin believed would throw off Ussain Bolt, tapped her right feet impatiently against the granite.</p><p>"Aw, baby did you miss me," said Heejin.</p><p>"I'm going to bed," shouted Jinsol from the top of the staircase, wake me up before nine tomorrow!"</p><p>"Yah, but don't count too much on me!" Heejin shouted back.</p><p>"Heejin!"</p><p>Heejin snickered to herself and held out a finger to the rabbit who lovingly nipped at it. "What's that red mark on your fur Cottontail," Heejin asked, furrowing her eyebrows.</p><p>After making sure that it wasn't blood and that she wasn't hurt, she hopped into bed with Tori and Nori sprawled beside her and Cottontail on her chest.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Did it happen again?" asked Jungeun, noticing Hyunjin's persistent scowl as she murderously chopped beans.</p><p>Hyunjin nodded silently. "If I catch whoever is doing it–"</p><p>"Did you consider that it's an animal?" Jungeun asked dryly.</p><p>Hyunjin's hand stalled. "I didn't–"</p><p>"Of course you didn't, it's just like you to leave out the most logical explanation," said Jungeun, patting her sister's arm. "Can I see the bite mark?"</p><p>Hyunjin nodded and trudged over to the biodegradable-waste's bin and extracted one of them. Jungeun inspected the deep bites and gave her expert opinion, "I think it's a hedgehog."</p><p>"A hedgehog?" asked Hyunjin. That made no sense, where would they find a hedgehog here.</p><p>"Or a rabbit," Jungeun said.</p><p>"Don't worry, you'll find out soon," Jungeun added sympathetically. When she had aceeded to Hyunjin's request to let her plant some 'bushes' around the garden and take out the weeds, she hadn't expected her to turn it into a massive horticultural society.</p><p>Hyunjin clapped her hands together. "I'll set up a monitoring system around the place, let's see who dares to bite my beets again."</p><p>"Can you hold off the drama long enough to make dinner or do I have to do it?" sighed Jungeun.</p><p>They talked again– or rather waved at each other– two days later after the first meeting. This time Hyunjin was in a yellow dress that reached her knees, and a blue hat with a yellow rainbow, looking like someone who had just stepped out of a Lucy Maud Montgomery story. Heejin sped up her pace as she ran with Tori and Nori along the walkway to her house. Hyunjin had been watering the plants, her eyes shaded by her hat, but she looked up when Heejin passed by. Caught off guard, Heejin could muster only a feeble wave and they both smiled at each other.</p><p>Hyunjin told herself she was <em>not</em> staring.</p><p>Sure she was watering her plants for longer than usual, her hydrangeas definitely needed all that extra water in the late summer. Heejin had a strict schedule and over the past few days, Hyunjin had mapped it out. She left her house at five minutes to six every evening, secured the locks and went off on a run with her dogs. Then she would return after an hour and more sweaty and tired before. More often than not, her tank top was slightly pushed above her waistline and her pants low on her hips.</p><p>Hyunjin was not staring. She was <em>not</em>.</p><p>The hydrangeas <em>needed</em> the water.</p><p>It was considerably hotter when she saw Heejin setting up what seemed to be a garishly red mailbox.</p><p>"I think you're nailing the flap wrong," offered Hyunjin, after watching Heejin struggle with the thing for an entire fifteen minutes.</p><p>"Mmhm, you're right!" Heejin exclaimed, her words coming out muffled because of the nails she held between her teeth. She took them out and smiled, as if embarassed, "this was supposed to be easy, I think I should have called over the carpenter."</p><p>"No, no, it took us a long time too," said Hyunjin dumbly because that was the effect that Heejin in a loose shirt with nails held between her lips had on her.</p><p>"Us?"</p><p>"Me, my sister Jungeun and her girlfriend Jiwoo, we all live together here, we wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise, the boutique doesn't pay much you see," said Hyunjin. Great. Just great. Why don't you just go ahead and give her a list of the bills and salary pay slip too.</p><p>"Ah, I feel you, Jinsol and I saved up for a year and a half before we could buy this place," said Heejin. Her face became thoughtful, "it's a bit more travel but the boys like it."</p><p>"The boys?"</p><p>"Tori and Nori," said Heejin. "My dogs," she further explained, noting Hyunjin's confusion.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It took Hyunjin eleven days to figure it out. The ruination of her thirteenth beet drove her to finally install cameras around the house. She was convinced it was a rabbit (or a hedgehog). It had taken a bite out of two beets and bitten through the ivy stem at three places.</p><p>"She's gone crazy," said Jiwoo, rubbing sleep from her eyes to get a better look at Hyunjin who was scanning the garden with her night binoculars.</p><p>"I know baby, let's just go back to bed," Jungeun said, pressing a light kiss on Jiwoo's temple. "We have that date tomorrow."</p><p>Hyunjin had fallen asleep on the cold floor of the living room itself. A cold gust of air blew in through the open window and woke her up early in the morning. The hard floor had frozen her limbs and stiffened her joints. She was about to trudge back to bed where she was sure her traitorous cat Chohee was having a good sleep when she remembered the purpose of the exercise. Quickly she resumed her position on the floor, determine to catch the culprit.</p><p>And there it was.</p><p>It wasn't that difficult to see. The white fur was a strong contrast against the evergreen bush and the bulbous object in its hand was unmistakably one of Hyunjin's beets.</p><p>"Aha, gotcha."</p><p>She kept her binoculars trained on it and stuffed some more soggy nachos into her mouth, from the bowl beside her. It didn't stay for long. Abandoning the vegetable, it neatly jumped onto a stone and over the Hyunjin's prided bush, into her neighbour's lawn. Hyunjin's mouth fell open when she saw it disappearing into Heejin's house through a hatch in the front door.</p><p>Soon the door to the house was opened and none other than the devil's owner stepped out.</p><p>"Come on Tori! Nori!" Hyunjin had been half expecting Heejin to throw the rabbit out but no, she was taking her dogs out for a morning walk.</p><p><em>Of course</em>, Hyunjin thought to herself. <em>Of course someone with a bonsai would keep a rabbit as a pet.</em></p><p>Although Hyunjin had discovered the culprit, she didn't know what to do about it.</p><p>She couldn't very well poison it (despite her hatred for those who destructed her garden, she couldn't bring herself to do something like that).</p><p>Neither could she put up barbs because if it was stupid enough (which it seemed to be), it would jump through her bush and impale itself on the spikes. Barbs were just plain cruel, it could cause fatal injuries but would leave the owner feeling satisfied as if it wasn't on their conscience and Hyunjin gave a piece of her mind to the saleslady at the shop who was trying to sell her the barb wires.</p><p>And on top of that Jiwoo and Jungeun were dating the devil's accomplice, Jinsol.</p><p>"You guys have mastered U-Hauling," said Hyunjin spitefully.</p><p>"You're just jealous because you're as single as those pringles you're eating," said Jiwoo, through mouthfuls of popcorn.</p><p>"And you wouldn't be so if you stopped being an <em>absolute</em> prick about someone's rabbit eating your beets," said Jungeun.</p><p>"You don't understand," said Hyunjin. Her only friend in this house was Cho-hee who was kind enough to lend a ear to her troubles.</p><p>Hyunjin had started to avoid working in the garden during Heejin's evening walks. She instead took to working in the afternoons (she couldn't water plants late in the evening because she was afraid of frost).</p><p>But despite her valiant efforts, she found herself under the onslaught of her hot neighbor in a pink tank-top with an infuriating <em>rabbit</em> print on it.</p><p>"Ay! Hyunjin!" Heejin waved to her brightly.</p><p>"Heejin," acknowledged Hyunjin.</p><p>"You never invited me on that garden tour you promised," she said brightly.</p><p><em>That was <strong>before</strong> I caught your rabbit munching on my beets</em>, Hyunjin wanted to say, but instead she acquiesced to Heejin's request.</p><p>She soon realised that she liked talking to Heejin about her plants. Heejin nodded to what she said and often asked questions about the techniques.</p><p>"Why do you want to know all this?" asked Hyunjin, after she had explained to her the tedious procedure of nipping thymus leaves.</p><p>"I was thinking of doing a garden similar to this in my yard too, of course it won't be as grand as this one, your talent truly is amazing but I can try," said Heejin. "And hopefully Tori and Nori won't rip out the beds."</p><p>Hyunjin hoped she wasn't blushing too furiously at the praise Heejin showered on her. Instead she decided to divert her attention to more pressing matters.</p><p>"I understand how stressful pets can be, there's a rabbit in this vicinity who keeps coming into the garden and eating my beets," said Hyunjin tipping her head sadly.</p><p>Heejin perked up at this. "A rabbit?"</p><p>"Yeah, I can show you," said Hyunjin. She lead Heejin to the rows of beets, of which a dismal few were left. "There were entire rows of them, and it's pulling them out and taking a bite out of them."</p><p>"Oh really? Has this started recently?" asked Heejin.</p><p>"Quite recently," said Hyunjin. "I am sort of worried too, I read somewhere that beets harm rabbits because of their sugar content."</p><p>Heejin, thankfully looked guilt stricken and then Hyunjin was convinced it was Heejin's rabbit.</p><p>"Hyunjin, I think I might be at blame here."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"I think it's cottontail doing all this," said Heejin.</p><p>"Cottontail?"</p><p>"My bunny, I named her after Peter Rabbit–"</p><p>"–Peter Rabbit?" Hyunjin laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.</p><p>"I wanted to name her Flopsy, because I'm so gay for Margot Robbie," said Heejin. Her eyes widened. "I mean not just Margot Robbie, for women in general but especially Margot Robbie."</p><p>Hyunjin smiled. "Hey, it's okay. It's not your fault."</p><p>No. That was not what she was supposed to be saying.</p><p>"Maybe, but I am sorry," said Heejin, rubbing the nape of her neck. "I know how much you love this garden, I'll try to reign her in more."</p><p>"Thank you," said Hyunjin. She sat on the porch swing and motioned Heejin to join her. "So how'd you get a rabbit."</p><p>"It was my friend's idea, you know Jinsol," said Heejin. "It was during uni, Jinsol thought I was depressed after my break up and decided to give me a rabbit. She thinks she's funny like that. The worst part was when Tori and Nori tried ripping Cotton to pieces."</p><p>"Why'd you get two dogs, didn't you already have too much on your plate as a student?" asked Hyunjin.</p><p>"I did," nodded Heejin. "I didn't even plan on getting two of them but they were such cute little balls when I saw them getting taken into the dog truck."</p><p>"They were taking them to the pound?"</p><p>"Yeah, I couldn't choose whom to take, so there I was with two puppies, sneaking them into uni," said Heejin. "They didn't get kicked out merely because of how cute they were."</p><p>Heejin patted Nori's head.</p><p>"Puppies don't stay puppies for long, so now I have an extra refrigerating unit," said Heejin.</p><p>"Tell me you're joking," Hyunjin said.</p><p>"About what?"</p><p>"<em>The refrigerator."</em></p><p>"Nope, that's how they reached this humongous size," said Heejin.</p><p>"You're such a funny person Heejin," Hyunjin said. "And kind too."</p><p>She didn't mention how she was suddenly feeling this urge to hold her hand and hug her.</p><p>"Thanks," said Heejin. "I swear I'll look after Cottontail better."</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Heejin tells herself it's a housewarming gift (should she even be the one giving Hyunjin a housewarming gift, considering she was the one who had recently moved to the neighborhood?)</p><p>She inspected the flowers in the shop for something she hadn't seen in Hyunjin's garden.</p><p>"What are you looking for dear?" An old woman asked.</p><p>"It's for my... my friend, the thing is she has a huge garden with lots of flowers," said Heejin. "So I was sort of looking for something to surprise her with."</p><p>"Hm, if she is an extensive gardener then she will probably have roses, what about Calla lilies, they were freshly brought in today," the woman offered.</p><p>"Can I see them?" Heejin asked in embarassment, she couldn't tell one flower from the other.</p><p>"Of course," said the woman, bringing a bucket of fresh bell-shaped flowers.</p><p>"No, she has those," remembering the ones she had seen in Hyunjin's garden.</p><p>"How about anemones? They're a pretty rare find ."</p><p>Within the next quarter of an hour, the lady came up with at least twenty-one varieties of flowers which existed in a multitude of colours but Heejin was sure Hyunjin already had them in her garden and would find them boring.</p><p>"Tell you what, since you are so keen on impressing this girl, I have some moonflowers at my place, I'll bring them for you."</p><p>"Your own flowers! You don't have to, it's too much of a bother–" Heejin started to say.</p><p>The woman shooed her and soon returned with a pot of drooping white flowers. Heejin frowned.</p><p>"Don't worry, they are not wilted," the woman said with amusement. "They're moonflowers, they bloom in the evening, even a shady place will do. Romantic isn't it?"</p><p>"Oh yes, and it's for a <em>friend</em>," said Heejin.</p><p>"<em>Ah</em>, either way," the woman's eyes glinted with humor.</p><p>"How much do I give for them?"</p><p>"Take them, I'll be glad to have helped someone who's such a wonderful friend."</p><p>She smiled kindly. Heejin bought a few red roses to go with the moonflowers and hoped Hyunjin wouldn't think too bad of them.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Heejin!" Hyunjin exclaimed in surprise. "What a pleasant surprise!"</p><p>"Here, these are for you," said Heejin, reddening furiously as she semi-thrust the flowers at Hyunjin.</p><p>"Are these what I think they are," Hyunjin spoke softly.</p><p>"They're called moonflowers," said Heejin. "As a housewarming gift."</p><p>"I know," Hyunjin almost whispered. "They'll open in the evening moonlight. What a beautiful gift, er, I think we should have given you a housewarming gift. Anyway, your arrival is pretty timely, I hate fourth wheeling this sloppy triple who are making out on the couch." Hyunjin lowered her voice again, "we can also watch them bloom together."</p><p>"Thanks," said Heejin. They stood for another awkward moment at the door before Hyunjin hurriedly shifted to let her in.</p><p>As expected, the interior was adorned with plants. Peat pots lined the corridors like sentinels, the windows had ivy twining around them with an occasional pink bud. Heejin stopped in her tracks when she caught a glimpse of the herb racks in the kitchen.</p><p>"Pretty cool isn't it, we grow most of the herbs we need here," said Hyunjin, noticing Heejin preoccupation.</p><p>In the living room was a bookshelf with tiny pots of cacti and more pots in the corners. This was a place you could never die of carbon monoxide poisoning. On the couch, Heejin found her friend lying lazily with her head in the lap of a brown-haired girl. The other blonde, who Heejin knew to be Jungeun greeted her.</p><p>"Welcome to our humble abode," said Jungeun, dramatically waving her spoon in the air. "This is Jiwoo." The girl gave her a thin-lipped smile.</p><p>"See, I wasn't joking about Hyunjin being a daughter of Demeter," said Jungeun, "be careful that you don't trip over the ivy."</p><p>Heejin laughed at the joke. "Daughter of Demeter, that explains it."</p><p>Hyunjin blinked. She had fallen in love with Heejin's deep laugh.</p><p>"Look what Heejin got me, moonflowers!" Hyunjin said triumphantly.</p><p>"Are those the same flowers you tried to grow but failed to?" asked Jiwoo.</p><p>"Shut up," snapped Hyunjin.</p><p>"Heejin, you're making me look bad," laughed Jinsol. "When did you become such a romantic?"</p><p>"It's just a housewarming gift," said Heejin.</p><p>"Ah, stop teasing her, we can watch it bloom at night," said Hyunjin. "Who wants to do movie night?"</p><p>"I want to watch the Avengers, I haven't seen it in a long time," said Jungeun. "Have you ever watched it Jinsol?"</p><p>"I don't think so," said Jinsol. "Heejin is a fan though."</p><p>"Me too, all of us, except Jiwoo," said Hyunjin. "I'll go whip us something together."</p><p>"Popcorn!" said Jiwoo and Jinsol simultaneously and then they giggled.</p><p>Hyunjin turned to Heejin and gave a sarcastic little eye roll and a goofy smile.</p><p>And that's when Heejin realises that she's messed up. For good.</p><p>Most unfortunately, the feeling does not go away. They soon come to the uncomfortable conclusion that they will have to take the two-seater couch because Jungeun, Jinsol and Jiwoo are on the larger one. Chohee is alseep on her own personal bean bag.</p><p>The longer the movie plays, the larger Heejin's panic grows; she's seen og Avengers more times than she can count, so her brain uses a lot of excess attention to hyperfocus on Hyunjin.</p><p>It focuses on the way they are literally pressed together from head to toe, and the way Heejin can feel Hyunjin's body vibrating when she laughs at one of Tony Stark's one-liners. It focuses on the way Hyunjin slowly melts into her, the longer the movie plays.</p><p>And their hands meet when they try to take popcorn from the bucket– once, twice.</p><p>Each time Heejin looks up in shock but Hyunjin is focussed on the movie. When the credits appear on the screen, Hyunjin gets up and stretches, almost akin to a cat.</p><p>"Do you want to do the honors Heejin?" Hyunjin asks.</p><p>Heejin shakes her head. "No, you do it. I couldn't even trust myself enough to carry it here."</p><p>They placed the moonflower in the open air. Although the evening had almost progressed into night the moonlight was too weak.</p><p>"Will it still bloom?" asked Jungeun.</p><p>"Yeah, the moon thing is just a myth," Hyunjin says. "Moonflowers need good care and the evening breeze."</p><p>They waited for a good fifteen minutes before the flower started responding. In her excitement Hyunjin clutched Heejin's arm. "Look, it's happening."</p><p>And it truly was.</p><p>The bell-shaped flowers slowly opened and a yellow head peeked out first. The flower straightened it's head and the petals opened in a spiral, revealing a yellow-streaked interior.</p><p>"Guys did you see–" Hyunjin turned to find Jungeun kissing Jinsol intensely.</p><p>Heejin cleared her throat. "That was something I've never seen before."</p><p>"Same, I tried growing them once," said Hyunjin, "but I kept failing. I promise to take better care of these."</p><p>She pressed her hand one more time before letting go.</p><p>"Cottontail isn't giving you more trouble is she?" asked Heejin nonchalantly.</p><p>"She did sneak out once or twice, so I thought of growing radishes for her," said Hyunjin meekly.</p><p>"You're growing radish for Cotton?" Heejin asks disbelievingly. "She positively drove us to bankruptcy with her insane obsession for radishes."</p><p>"Well if this crop is successful then you won't have to buy them anymore," said Hyunjin.</p><p>The night was beautiful, the moonflowers had successfully blossomed, Hyunjin's eyes were inviting and everything was perfect.</p><p>"I should go," said Heejin, her voice coming out with some difficulty.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It took forty seven days for Heejin to figure out that Cottontail loved her neighbours more than her and it wasn't hard to figure out why.</p><p>Hyunjin had been 'autumn-cleaning' (sue everyone, if there can be spring cleaning then so can autumn cleaning) when she heard the cacophony from her garden. Chohee and Cottontail were having a standoff in the garden.</p><p>Chohee's conscience had awakened all of a sudden and she bravely stood in front of the beets, upholding her mistress's honor.</p><p>Cottontail stood up on two's and rapidly beat her right feet on the ground. Chohee's fur rose and she growled. Hyunjin stifled her laughter and went into the house, returning with some fresh radishes.</p><p>Cottontail froze when she saw Hyunjin approaching her. Chohee, a scaredy cat true to the letter, had disappeared into her sleeping corner.</p><p>"Hey, leave my beets alone," Hyunjin spoke softly. She rolled the radish to her. "Peace offering."</p><p>In the evening she found only half of the radish left.</p><p>From then on it was like a mutual understanding. Hyunjin left radishes for Cottontail and she left her beets alone. Slowly but steadily Cottontail started spending more time in the Kim household. </p><p> </p><p>"Jinsol, have you seen Cotton anywhere today?" Heejin asked.</p><p>"I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, I saw Hyunjin and Jiwoo feeding her radishes and stuff, she's probably chilling at their place."</p><p>"I have to go check on her," said Heejin.</p><p>She found Hyunjin humming to herself in her workshed, where she stored her supplies and manure, mixed compost and planted seeds in pots.</p><p>Today she was in a lilac sundress and Heejin couldn't help but admire how it fit her frame. Recently she had been finding it difficult to find words around Hyunjin.</p><p>"Hey Hyunjin," Heejin said awkwardly.</p><p>"Heejin, it's been so long– three days I think?" Hyunjin said cheerfully. "Is everything okay? I saw Jinsol walking Tori and Nori yesterday."</p><p>"Yeah, I have a deadline coming up at BBC," said Heejin. "Sorry I couldn't drop by."</p><p>"I have a surprise for you, I think you'll find someone in my vegetables garden," said Hyunjin. "Come with me."</p><p>Hyunjin lead her to the backyard. There, separate from the other plants was a square of purplish vegetables and orange ones which could only be carrots.</p><p>"The eternal supply of radishes that I promised," said Hyunjin. "And there's Cottontail. We're friends now."</p><p>"You two are friends now?" Last Heejin knew, Jungeun had told her that Hyunjin had been planning possible methods of executing Cottontail (Heejin didn't ask whether she meant it literally or figuratively). Heejin spotted the rabbit's white tail peeking out from behind the green foliage.</p><p>"CT, come here!" Heejin called out and beckoned to her. The rabbit unblinkingly looked up at her. Heejin's face morphed into confusion. Cotton never did that before–</p><p>"I put out a bowl of water for her too, she likes spending time here," said Hyunjin. Saying so she knelt and whistled. "Cotton! Come here."</p><p>She pulled out a red fruit from her pocket and held it out.</p><p>And Cotton, the traitor, leapt straight into Hyunjin's lap and greedily held out her hands for the berry.</p><p>"Don't worry I removed the seed," cooed Hyunjin.</p><p>“I think Cottontail loves you more that she loves me,” Heejin said, with a resigned sigh. “I thought a bribe of broccoli treats would work.”</p><p>Hyunjin looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"</p><p>"She likes you more, because you're so nice to her, and you give her treats and I'm a shitty person for not spending time with her," said Heejin. She rubbed her hand against the nape of her neck– something Hyunjin caught her doing often when she was guilty or nervous.</p><p>Hyunjin laughed. She lightly pushed Cotton off her lap and stood up. "Heejin, you really are too much."</p><p>And then she kissed her.</p><p> </p><p>Heejin's always had a penchant for overthinking. Right now a million thoughts raced to her mind. Multiple questions. When had she last bathed? Was her hair okay? Had Tori chewed the shoes she was wearing? Alarming flashes of Tori and Nori ripping Hyunjin's flower beds also featured in these thoughts.</p><p>But Hyunjin was as effective a kisser as she was a gardener. She chased away all thoughts, leaving space only to think of this moment.</p><p>Just them standing in this scenic shed.</p><p><em>Her lips are surprisingly soft...</em> </p><p>Heejin furtively wrapped her arms around Hyunjin's waist and deepened the kiss.</p><p>When they finally broke apart from the second kiss, they were both panting.</p><p>"I've wanted to do that for quite some time," winked Hyunjin.</p><p>"Even after you saw me in that t-shirt with Tori and Nori's faces on it?" asked Heejin. Her tone was light but her question was charged with something else. Uncertainty. Uncertainty of her own self.</p><p>"Especially after that," said Hyunjin.</p><p>"Me too," said Heejin after a momentary pause. They smiled and pressed their foreheads against each other with Cottontail tapping her feet impatiently in the background.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The gardening workshed station at Hyunjin's flower boutique was always neat and tidy after she was done. The hardwood table had a pot of moonflowers on it and a framed picture. Everyone agreed that having Cottontail and Chohee as bridesmaids was the cutest thing ever, and the framed picture of Heejin and Hyunjin exchanging rings with Tori and Nori at their sides always got a positive reaction when customers walked past.</p><p> </p><p>🍀</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I knew practically nothing about gardens and gardening so I hope you enjoyed this fluff piece on gardens and gardening :)</p><p>I pretty much wrote this chapter purely based on my experience as a mom of four cats, and the rabbits at the village we have our house in, and my late dog</p></blockquote></div></div>
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